Akon, who dominated radio in the mid-2000s with hits like “Lonely” and “Don’t Matter,” is back with a new song, “Akon’s Beautiful Day.” Except it’s not new, exactly.
The song originally went viral thanks to a video showing a 10-year-old Jamaican student named Rushawn Ewears, who’s now 16, singing it at school. But Akon isn’t trying to steal the kid’s thunder — he’s just taking back what’s his.
“That was one of my early demos from back in 2012 that [got leaked and] made it to Jamaica,” Akon laughs. He says when he saw Rushawn singing it, he thought it was cool, but didn’t think much of it — until he went in the studio and his producer wanted to show him the cool new song he’d found.
“He was like, ‘Man, listen, I got this song that went viral. You got to listen to it. It sounds like something that you would actually do,'” Akon tells ABC Audio. “And when he played it for me, I was like, ‘What? Are you serious? You know this is one of my old demos, right?'”
That’s when Akon realized that “this was a sign … it was definitely meant to be.” In addition to recording the song, he plans to pay to renovate Rushawn’s school through his charity foundation.
Akon’s happy that the song’s out now, rather than in 2012, because he says the song’s message is sorely needed.
“The world is literally on fire,” he says. “I thought that this was the perfect timing … because we have so much going on with all these wars … and we’re attached to all these things with no solutions and … everyone’s so selfish. … So I just wanted to bring out a voice of unity.”
“This was definitely God’s plan, 100%, especially the way it came back 360.”
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